


That Awkward Moment When...

by xxxcxxx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hermione does maths, How to adult in the UK...sort of, Post-War, Ron doesn't know how to adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 19:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16561886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxxcxxx/pseuds/xxxcxxx
Summary: That awkward moment when the muggleborn knows more about wizarding finances than the purebloodRon started an argument. With Hermione. About whether he could afford to skip his seventh year.





	That Awkward Moment When...

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own any rights to Harry Potter and am making no profit from this work. This is a work of fiction and should be treated as such. I know logically this work takes place in the summer of ’98 but all information and percentages about taxes and things are from the 2015/16 tax year IN THE UK. That being said all my information about UK taxes was gathered from The Money Advice Service (TMAS). TMAS is a non-government organisation dedicated to giving free, impartial money advice in the UK and as far as I am aware provided me with correct information. I am also not affiliated with this company.
> 
> Note:This started with another fiction (unknown title) where the summary stated that Draco was struggling to pay his parents’ medical bills. This got me thinking about whether Magical Britain had its own version of the NHS (‘free’ health care) and in the spirit of all things ‘free’ in the government whether they would have to pay taxes to cover these costs. Reading a tweet from JK saying Hogwarts was free made me (and the friends I bugged with this question) come to the conclusion that they must pay some form of tax to cover this charge.
> 
> This is my first time posting on this site...and to be honest I have minimal experience in HTML coding, so if its wrong (and you know how to fix it) please feel free to contact me and tell me.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had all moved into Grimauld Place after the war, they had tried living at the Burrow, but the normalcy was too jarring. Hermione tried to ease her nightmares like she had become accustomed to: making breakfast for her boys. Mrs Weasley, unfortunately, felt the need to deal with the stress and bereavement of the war in the same manner, leaving them to clash every morning. After a fortnight and three anxiety attacks she begged her leave and, with Harry’s permission, absconded to the relative safety of the former Black house. 

Ron, funnily enough, was next, he announced his intention to not complete his education and when his parents told him otherwise he decided he was adult enough and followed after his girlfriend. Harry lasted two days longer, being surrounded by so many people after being in a constant state of alertness left his heart racing and him jumping at shadows and the smallest of noises, he promised to convince the other two that at the very least they would return on Sundays for a family dinner. 

\--x--

It was the start of July during what would have been the summer after their seventh year. The deadline for re-admission to Hogwarts was the end of the month and Mrs Weasley had just sent her errant son a Howler showing her displeasure about his continued resistance to going back to school.

Harry thought the look of shock on his best friends face was priceless. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU AREN’T PLANNING ON GOING BACK TO HOGWARTS RONALD WEASLEY!?” That made the red head pale considerably, even his freckles seemed to pale in horror at Hermione’s yell. 

“W-w-w-well, I mean, um, I mean, come on Hermione, we er, I mean, we defeated Voldemort, right? It’s not like we really need to go back. Right Harry?” The scowl on Hermione’s face didn’t lessen, in fact it seemed to get worse. 

“Erm, actually mate, the Goblins offered me a job if I got my NEWTs, and if I take the job they won’t bar any of us from the bank... or make me pay them back for the stuff we damaged. So. Yeah. Tea?” Harry was studying his shoes like they held the secrets of the universe, darting his eyes up to catch Hermione’s proud smile and Ron’s flabbergasted expression. 

Harry turned to the stove to make a pot of tea, even though neither of his friends answered him. When he turned back around Hermione was still glaring and Ron looked like he was going to wet himself. 

“What, exactly, do you plan to do if you’re not going to get your NEWTs?” Hermione sat down at the kitchen table, her eyes telling Ron that he better do the same, or else. Harry made to move out of the kitchen, it was always best to leave them to argue in peace, the glare thrown at him by both his friends prompted him to sit too.

“I dunno ‘Mione get a job or something?” sarcasm was not a good way to start this argument.

“And what kind of job do you plan on getting without NEWTs?” Hermione’s sweet smile told Harry that she already had an argument planned out and had her poor other half by the bollocks already. Harry was pretty sure he knew it too.

“Well I could be an Auror”

“Becoming an Auror requires no less than five NEWTs with NO result below Exceeds Expectations Ronald, even with the Minister relaxing the entry requirements, he still implied that self study for the qualifications would be required to pass training. Could you do that Ronald? Honestly? And speaking of training, you do know that its three years of study before you even qualify don’t you? How are you going to support yourself on the G700 training wage?”

“I’m sure it won’t be that hard Hermione, I mean we spent a year on the run in a tent, Auror training can’t be that much harder, besides Kingley knows the three of us did most of the work destroying Voldemort, he won’t kick us out the program if we don’t graduate Hogwarts. And G700 is a lot of money Hermione I'm sure I’ll find a way to survive.”

“Oh of course Ronald, how could I ever have been so silly. You obviously know everything there is to know about living on your own in the wizarding world. How much of that money do you receive after income tax?”

The spluttering noise he made answered that question all on its own. Now she was going to nail his coffin shut.

“How about rent? Insurance? Ministry tax? Your Auror retirement fund? The national retirement scheme? Do tell me Ronald how much money do you have after all that for food? Clothing? The wireless license? Floo charges and powder? The books you need for training? Not to mention your advanced apparition license? You can’t be an Auror without one of those. How about your security license thats G600 a year and you can’t even be a Hit-Wizard without one of those.”

Ron was wide eyed. He hadn’t realised being an adult cost so much. “What do you mean? What’s any of that rot you just said?”

Hermione took a deep breath, ready to launch into a lecture, both Harry and Ron knew he had made a mistake asking. 

“Well, income tax is used in the public sector, that means things like Hogwarts and St Mungo’s are free for everyone to use; it helps pay for Auror’s and Hit-wizards; it contributes to the costs of Azkaban and maintaining paths and roads in Wizarding villages. Not to mention the running costs of the Knight Bus. You are only required to pay it if you have an average monthly income of over G500 and its 20% of your wages. That means of that G700 you earn, G140 of it is taken from you before you even get paid every month. The Auror retirement fund and the National retirement scheme are exactly what they say a fund of money you pay now that will help you with living costs when you are too old to continue working. You can opt out of any job based retirement fund but not the national one. That’s another 1% of your wage gone. Thats G7 every month.”

Hermione took a sip of her tea before continuing.

“House insurance, is money you pay to the goblins for the continued use of their anti-fire, anti-intruder and anti-damage warding. If you don’t pay and something goes wrong, you’ll have to replace the ward stone, and any of your possessions that are damaged, and of course fix the damage yourself. That’s G100 a month. Then as an Auror you’ll need life insurance, this is optional but highly recommended, and will help pay for everything if you need to take time off work because of an injury and if you die it’ll help your family cover the funeral costs. Because it’s a high risk job the standard amount of life insurance for a Junior Auror or Auror trainee is G50 a month, going up to G150 a month once you fully qualify then if the company deems you more likely to hurt or kill yourself it’ll go up again.

“Ministry tax is imposed on any home owner or renter and contributes to things like street lights, keeping wizarding villages and streets clean the upkeep of the Floo network, the Obliviator squad. For an average one bedroom flat or apartment in a wizarding village its G50 a month. That leaves you with G303 a month, before you pay rent. A flat over Diagon Alley, for example, will be one room and a bathroom and will cost approximately G200, S16 a month and a flat in any other wizarding village will only cost a little less. The S16 is for the water runes so you have running water. So that’s approximately G102, S1 you have to your name every month before you buy food or hygiene supplies.”

Another sip of tea.

“An advanced apparition license is a yearly cost of G100 that will be approximately, G8, S5, K20 a month if you save. This is one of the final things you need to accomplish to pass your first year of training. The books you need to buy total about G50 a year, first hand, and all of them are revised every year so you can’t buy them second hand. Though Flourish and Blotts do recognise that this is a lot of money and do have a scheme to pay it in twelve monthly instalments of G5, though if you miss two payments the books are taken off you.”

Ron was still spluttering, an angry exclamation about robbery pouring from his mouth when he did the maths and figured Flourish and Blotts were ‘ripping people off’

“It’s not ripping you off Ron, Muggles do it all the time it’s called buying on finance the extra is interest. They do it because you’re taking your time. Uncle Vernon bought a huge TV and ended paying more than £200 extra because he bought it on finance. Besides I don’t mind lending you some money.” Harry was looking pale, but not shocked. He’d seen his bank statements once he inherited the Potter and Black holdings. Luckily he only had to pay Council Tax on the property he was living in and any that were un-occupied but liveable. The goblins had already told him that he would need life insurance and because of his ‘escapades’ it was already going to cost him G150 a month. 

“Will you be wanting to use the Floo? To keep the floo activated it’s a yearly charge of G36, obviously G3 a month if you save or you could pay it on finance for G3, S9 a month. Floo powder is S2 a scoop and a scoop will last you about a week in bodily journeys, or double that for just sticking your head in. So assuming you apparate to work and only use it talk to people it’ll cost you approximately S4, K10 a month. But if you use it every day to floo into work it’ll cost you approximately double that: S8, K20 a month. The wireless runs similarly, it’s G60 a year, G5 a month if you save or G5, S8, K15 on finance.”

Ron continued to splutter. His face having transformed from the earlier pale to his usual angry red. 

“Why the bloody hell do I need to pay to listen to the wireless?”

“How do you think they pay to keep making shows Ronald? So, assuming you save for the advanced apparition licence and your security license; get life insurance; pay everything you are able on finance; DON’T subscribe to the Auror retirement fund until you’re fully qualified and don’t use the Floo bodily you should have G22, S10, K16 to buy food, clothing, toiletries, and anything else you might need.” 

With that Hermione stood, rinsed out her tea cup and walked out. 

Harry looked over to Ron, he was frozen in shock, Harry refilled his tea before patting him on the shoulder.

“Look on the bright side Ron, when I got mum, dad and Sirius’ wills read I had to surrender 40% of the money they left me to the Goblins just for Inheriting it.”

**Author's Note:**

> MATHS SOLD SEPARATELY


End file.
